


Palliate

by tb_ll57



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, post - endless waltz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 21:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1278649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tb_ll57/pseuds/tb_ll57
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>'You don't really need to do that,' Duo said. 'Check in on me.'</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Palliate

'Oh, heya,' Duo said. 'Um. Got your message. All six of them.'

Wufei, safely behind the line of action at his desk, rolled his eyes freely. Heero scowled at him. Wufei spent a lot of time disparaging 'Western' culture, but there were a few aspects of it that he took to rather too well.

'You don't really need to do that,' Duo continued. 'Check in on me.'

Heero coughed once to clear his throat and finished typing the last paragraph of his report. 'Just making sure you got home all right,' he answered.

'I did. Big boy, and all.' Their cubicle walls were only half man-height, and Heero had a good view of Duo entering his, yanking his chair back, and sinking down to just a crown of hair bent toward a wall. 'Anyway,' Duo said, 'I'm in and out all day today. Don't worry about me, okay?'

Heero slipped on his keys and had to erase the last word. 'Okay,' he said.

 

**

 

'So is he?' Wufei asked innocently.

Whenever Wufei took that tone Heero braced himself. He tensed, and levelled his best frowning defence against prying teammates. 'Is who what.'

'Duo. A big boy.'

Raucous laughter from the rest of their office informed Heero that he'd been set up. Wufei's malicious grin told him that, too. When Heero stood abruptly, the mocking stopped. Immediately. Gratifyingly.

He planted his hands on his desktop and leaned in. Wufei watched him warily, swaying back a half-inch before he caught himself.

'Yes,' Heero deadpanned. 'Turns out he is.'

Wufei coloured. 'Heero,' he snapped.

'Chang.'

That, he felt, counted as a minor triumph. Wufei scowled at him, and went back to his own desk. Heero resumed his seat. Duo's computer, at rest for the past half-hour, finally went black in sleep mode. Heero checked his mobile, but he hadn't missed any calls.

 

**

 

'You're not supposed to use the weights without a spotter.'

Heero grunted as he forced the bar up, locking his elbows long enough for two fingers to insinuate themselves into his field of vision. Not hardly enough to catch the bar if he lost his grip-- but plenty enough to assert unspoken trust that he wouldn't. Heero tilted his head back to look at the underside of Duo's chin. There was a little white scar line there that almost disappeared when Duo smiled down at him.

'Wufei giving you shit?'

'It's all right.' He brought the bar back to his chest and pumped it high again. Duo's legs came to either side of his head on the bench, but the two pointer fingers just followed the bar lazily, making no attempt to manage his workout.

'It's not,' Duo said. 'Why's he such a jerk lately?'

Heero knew exactly why, but he wasn't sure Duo really needed to know. 'I broke up with him,' he admitted finally. He strained just a bit to push the bar back into the air, and replanted his feet on the gym floor. 'Three weeks ago.'

That was greeted with silence. He looked for Duo's expression, but there was just the underside of Duo's chin, again. 'I take it not amicably,' Duo said finally.

'No.'

'Since when the hell were you-- were-- dating?'

Not long and not very easily. He should have stopped it before sex. He should have stopped it before sex became all it was. Duo did not at all need to know that. 'A couple of months. Not long.'

'Guess I missed the big announcement.' Duo did catch him this time, when Heero didn't quite manage full extension. Duo gripped the bar between his hands and guided it back to the rests. Heero let it fall safely and dropped his arms, shaking them out until the tremors stopped. Duo dropped a towel on his face, and he wiped away his sweat gratefully.

'You're still in uniform,' he observed as he sat up. Duo was even still wearing his tie, and he knew how much Duo hated that tie. The tail was flipped over one shoulder, but that might have been a consideration of the exercise equipment.

'So how was that?' Duo said. 'Wufei, I mean. You guys aren't exactly a dream match.'

'More than you'd think.' He took a swipe at the back of his neck and then wiped down the bench. His shoulders felt loose and hot-- he'd pushed too hard on the weights. Duo didn't seem to notice, but he wore a little down-turned moue as he helped Heero remove the weights and stack them on the rack. 'Anyway,' Heero said. 'How was your day?'

'Seriously, you don't have to check up on me, Heero.'

'I don't have to or you don't want me to?'

Duo looked him head-on, for once. 'Don't know,' he said, forthrightly. But Duo was always honest. Heero accepted it with a nod.

'I won't, then,' he answered. 'Thanks for letting me know you're okay.'

Duo chewed his lower lip. 'Yeah. Well. See you tomorrow.'

'Yeah,' he said.

 

**

 

He was already on the bus from the parking lot when they picked up Wufei with a few others on the fourth level. There were plenty of open seats-- they both preferred an early shift-- but when Wufei came grimly down the aisle to Heero's bench in the back, Heero made room for him, shifting his duffle to the floor.

'Hello,' Wufei said.

'Hi.'

Wufei sat as the shuttle rolled forward again. Not in the seat beside Heero-- in the seat opposite, but facing Heero, his knees precisely placed, feet perfectly perpendicular to the rubber treads. 'You're on the phone,' Wufei observed.

Not accomplishing anything on the phone. Duo wasn't answering. Heero closed the call, closed his mobile, and tucked it into his coat.

Wufei folded his hands over his briefcase. 'I owe you an apology.'

'Yes,' Heero agreed.

Wufei's mouth went flat and sour. 'You're not supposed to say that.'

'Why not? It's true. You've been very rude.'

'You've been very obvious,' Wufei snapped. 'If you were dumping me for Duo you should have said so.'

'I told you the truth.' A woman two seats ahead put earbuds in. They were not speaking loudly, but Heero lowered his voice anyway. 'We didn't have any of the right things to make a relationship.'

'According to whom? I was happy with it.'

'You were angry. You are angry. A lot.'

'So?' Wufei turned in his seat, drummed his fingers on his case. 'You knew I was angry when you--'

'I asked you to go bowling with me. Bowling is a very mild activity. Almost entirely non-confrontational.'

'It was a stupid idea for a date,' Wufei retorted. 'And I'm not the one who got competitive when he realised he couldn't throw.'

'Bowl. You bowl, not throw.'

'I suppose Duo bowls perfectly.'

A two-thirty-nine game. Heero was smart enough not to say that, though.

 

**

 

Duo didn't show at work that day. Heero checked-- he was not on assignment. But he never came in.

He didn't come in that week at all.

 

**

 

When Wufei came striding toward his desk, Heero tensed protectively.

'Oh, stop that,' Wufei said. 'I'm not here to argue. Where is he?'

'Why do you care?'

'He's my friend too.' Heero raised an eyebrow, and Wufei scowled. 'I said friend.'

Heero turned his mobile right-side up. No messages. 'I don't know where he is. He's not returning calls.'

'That's not usual.'

'It is usual. He just usually also shows up to tell me not to do it.'

'How has he been?'

No-one could pretend it was well. 'Don't know,' Heero said, but it wasn't true. There was a sinking feeling in his gut whenever he looked at Duo's empty cubicle.

'I'll ring him.' Wufei went back to his own desk for his phone. 'He could have blocked your number. You call him too much.'

Heero ignored that over the possibility that it might work. He watched closely as Wufei dialled. The volume on Wufei's phone was too low to overhear, but he could tell by the rhythm of Wufei's blinking when each tone rang through with no pick-up.

'Maybe if Quatre tried him,' Wufei said finally. 'He likes Quatre.'

'Une has to know where he is.'

'I do, as a matter of fact.' Both men turned at her voice; the Director had just entered their office. She had her assistant with her, and the assistant was pushing a cart with boxes. The cart went to Duo's cubicle. The assistant took down his nameplate.

'He quit?' Wufei said incredulously. 'You let him quit?'

'Agent Maxwell is taking an extended medical leave,' Une replied tonelessly. 'Meanwhile, we need the space. And I believe you both have work to do.'

Heero stood abruptly. Une's eyes swung to him. The assistant regarded him warily.

'Where is he?' Heero asked directly.

'Safe,' Une answered. 'And that's all the information I can legally disclose.'

Wufei's face was blank. Heero's felt frozen. He asked no further questions. Une did not stay long. The assistant did, emptying Duo's desk drawer by drawer, clearing his computer. She left the personal items for last, the tea bags, the kitsch UFO lamp, the carved jade elephant. They went into a box with a lid, the lid was taped down, an address label affixed--

'Excuse me,' Wufei said sweetly. He smiled pleasantly at the assistant. 'Don't miss those files by the supply cabinet. Duo moved them there two months ago.'

'Thanks,' the assistant told him absently. 'Those there?'

'The blue covers. Here, let me help you reach them.'

Heero was on his feet the moment the assistant was out of the cubicle. He leaned over the half-wall and grabbed the label. He read it once and hurriedly returned it. He was seated and typing when Wufei returned with the files.

'Thanks,' the assistant said again. She added the files to the cart, Duo's boxes, and unlocked the wheels. She rolled it out the doors without looking back.

'Well?' Wufei demanded. 'What did it say?'

'L2.' Heero checked to be sure the assistant was gone, and grabbed his coat. 'Are you coming?'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Wufei said. He was already wrapping on his scarf. 'This will be looked at as insubordination. Abandoning our posts.'

Heero shrugged. 'And?'

 

**

 

'I still don't see why we couldn't book two sleepers.'

'Because we used my credit card.' Wufei secured their bags in the net and pushed himself off with perfect control. He floated with economical speed to the top bunk, hooked an ankle on the strap, and began to strip down to his underthings. Heero did the same hovering an inch off the floor, and stowed his clothes in the drawer beneath the bunks. He took Wufei's when they were passed to him, carefully belting them down so they wouldn't wrinkle.

'We haven't considered something,' Wufei said.

'Whether Une will have us arrested at the shuttleport?'

'Whether Duo wanted anyone to come after him. And, if so, if he will want to return.'

He most certainly had considered that. He didn't have answers. 'If he wanted us to know,' he said, 'he would have told us.' He climbed into the sleeping bag, zipping it loosely around him. 'Get the light.'

Wufei did. 'You're calm,' he said, as their small cabin plunged into total blackness. A moment later, a thin blue glow lit a square above their exit, E for Emergency.

'Even if he doesn't come back with us,' Heero said quietly, 'Duo of all people would say it's still important for him to know we want him to.'

There was a rustle as Wufei shifted above him. 'You can say something like that and still be such an ass the rest of the time.'

'What am I doing the rest of the time?' he protested.

'You know what I mean.' Wufei shifted again. 'You're in love with him. I don't know why I didn't have the good sense to turn you down flat.'

'I'm not in love with Duo. Not _in love_. You can have feelings for people that fall somewhere between casual acquaintance and worship.'

'Oh, I'm well aware. It's called sex partner. Which is squarely where I sat when you--'

'You were the one who made that move.'

'I'm the one who was honest about his feelings.'

'Wufei.' He unzipped his bag and grabbed the underside of Wufei's bunk. The momentum of his stretch carried him up, and he twisted mid-air to flatten himself against the rail. Wufei glared at him. He was still glaring when Heero kissed him.

And was still glaring when Heero stopped. But he only put his hand around Heero's neck and pulled him down again.

'We shouldn't do this,' Heero muttered into the nipple he couldn't quite lick as he tried to catch the strap and pull Wufei's underpants off simultaneously.

Wufei gave him an impatient shove, and Heero missed his grab. His back hit the ceiling a moment later. He thumped his head.

'I really detest you sometimes,' Wufei said. 'Go buy your own sleeper.'

'I meant,' Heero told him crossly, 'that we should do this when we're not weightless.'

'Oh.' Wufei had the grace to look embarrassed. 'I suppose it does complicate the-- process.'

'Yes.'

Wufei looked up at him floating there, chewing the inside of his cheek and thinking what Heero was sure were dangerous thoughts.

'Go away, Heero,' he said.

 

**

 

'Go away, Heero,' Duo said.

Wufei stopped the door closing by interposing his foot at the jamb. 'Ow,' he muttered. 'Duo!'

'Sorry,' Duo told him, not at all apologetically. 'You go away too.'

'You quit,' Heero interrupted. 'And you didn't tell me you were going to.'

'Gosh, they didn't route the memo to you? It's like we're barely a bureaucracy at all.'

'Will you let us in?' Heero asked him. 'Or we can have this conversation on the street. Or through a window when you close the door.'

'I really regret teaching you to be snarky.' Duo flipped them off, but it was half-hearted, and Heero knew he was giving up. 'Fine. In.'

For a renter in a shared home, it was a remarkably impersonal space. There were boxes in inconvenient spots-- including the one mailed by Une containing Duo's desk personals-- but a saggy couch and three bow-backed chairs occupied a crooked space against the faded green wallpaper. There were three yellowed spots where frames would have hung in previous times, but there was nothing now to alleviate the bare walls. A bookshelf, only half-full, had the corner opposite the kitchen, and of the kitchen itself only a plug-in kettle and a single pot unpacked. There were four bowls in the sink, four boxes of instant ramen littering the countertop, and pill bottles. More pill bottles than normal. Heero looked at them sharply, but many of the labels were turned away, and Duo came to stand between him and the counter, pointedly.

'You really don't have to check up on me,' Duo told them both. 'Seriously. Coming all this way and invading my house is kind of wacko.'

'More wacko than leaving Earth without telling anyone?' Wufei countered.

'I told plenty of people. Just not you.' Duo waved a hand. 'Heero, don't look at me like that.'

He tried to moderate the hurt expression he knew he wore, then decided not to. 'Why would you do that? You know--'

'I would have called back eventually. Right now, I want _privacy_. That thing that happens when people don't show up at your door unannounced.' Duo sighed. 'Sit. Tea?'

'No,' Heero said, just as Wufei said 'Yes', and then they both tried to sit in the same chair. Wufei glared at him as he moved to the end of the couch instead. Duo muttered something that sounded like 'tag team' and filled his kettle in the kitchenette. Heero stood again and picked up a large purple-labelled bottle of pills from the edge of the counter.

Fingers wrapped over the words before he read all of them. 'Privacy,' Duo repeated firmly.

'Une said you were safe,' Wufei observed suddenly. 'Did she force you out?'

'She didn't. I quit, like you said.' Duo moved all his pills to a different side of the counter, out of Heero's reach. 'We don't have non-field agents and you don't put an agent in the field who might accidentally bleed on other agents. The army has plenty of regs about it. We should follow them, too.'

'We're not the army. We're supposed to be freer from mindless regulation than the army. You're not just a number. Une can make special consideration--'

'She did. I'm the one who said no. Guys.' Duo planted his hands on the counter, looking at both of them wearily. 'Thank you. For being concerned. I'm not ready for this yet. Okay? I need you both to just drink your tea and get back on the shuttle and go home. I will call frequently. I can check in every day if that'll make you feel better. But we're not going to do this part yet.'

'Why L2? Why leave Earth at all?' Wufei stood too, which had the inadvertent affect of cornering Duo in the kitchenette. Duo gave them a flat look. Heero took a large step back and Duo sighed again.

'So are you two back together?' Duo asked. 'The matching outfits are kind of cute.'

Heero looked down. His polo shirt did appear to match Wufei's. Wufei winced and re-buttoned his coat.

'Bar,' Duo decided. 'This definitely requires a bar.'

 

**

 

A server delivered a plate of curry chips with their drinks. Duo sipped his lemon seltzer. Wufei eyed the curry with evident misgiving.

'Are you going to keep working?' Heero asked finally.

'Yeah,' Duo said. 'Remote Consulting. That's what Une calls it. Basically checking all your reports for inaccuracies. Identifying trends.'

'Fun,' Wufei said succinctly.

'Yeah. Half-time, basically. I got into a clinical trial for Stage IV HAART, so. Be busy with that.'

A desperate little silence followed that announcement. Heero squeezed grease from a chip and blotted it with his napkin.

'Fun,' Duo said. 'Great of you guys to come out here. Really raising my mood.'

'I'm sorry,' Heero murmured. Wufei was a beat behind him.

'We don't have to pretend I'm fine. But we don't have to act like I'm dying.' Duo slumped back in his chair, his eyes on the television screen over the bar, so that he didn't have to look at them. 'This is why I didn't tell you. You're like one single unit of misery. It blows, guys.'

'Well this is what happens,' Wufei said bluntly. 'You don't ever tell anyone anything and of course it's a shock. Sulking off to the colonies and who exactly is pretending here? If you really don't want us to care about you, then you're being a bad person and a worse friend. And an idiot.'

'Don't hold back, Wufei, tell me what you really think. It's not my job right now to put your bruised feelings first.'

'You don't have to put us last either. Running away is what a child does. Telling us the truth is what an adult does.'

Duo rolled his eyes. Wufei rolled his eyes at Duo rolling his eyes. Heero finished his beer quietly.

'Go home before Une sacks you,' Duo said then. 'You can come back at Christmas.'

 

**

 

The monitor announced their seating for boarding. Heero shouldered his duffel and joined the queue. Wufei stood next to him, watching out the window as they holstered the ramp to their shuttle. He took Heero's hand in his and held on.

 

**

 

Une didn't sack them. She did dock their pay for the four days they had been gone. There was a new agent occupying Duo's cubicle, hanging pictures of a smiling squad in JAP Sector colours. She greeted Heero and Wufei amiably and spent most of the day in briefings.

Heero had an assignment waiting, deployment to the upcoming ESUN Summit response squad. Wufei would be there too, working intell coordination. There was considerable prep material to read, and travel-- legitimate travel-- to arrange, teams to familiarise. By mutual agreement, they met for meals, and rode the bus back to the parking structure together. Wufei followed him to his car, though. Wufei followed him all the way back to his apartment.

Heero woke suddenly, not sure what had done it. The clock was blocked by the roll of Wufei's wallet and belt on the side table, but it was still entirely black out the window. Wufei was deeply asleep, his nose pressed against Heero's biceps, expelling soft warm breaths.

His mobile phone was blinking red. Message. Heero stretched an arm carefully over Wufei's shoulders and picked it up.

_Just so you know. I'm okay, Heero._

From Duo.

 _Glad to hear it_ , he typed back. He pressed 'send'. He rested the phone on his chest. A minute later, it vibrated.

_:-P_

He smiled. _N-i-g-h-t._

_Nite, buddy._


End file.
